I've been learning Japanese for about six months with Rosetta Stone, Tae Kim, and Genki (2nd Edition). I figured this would be a good plae to get some pratice, so please correct me as much as possible, especially on whether something is more commonly written in kanji or kana, and whether it's more or less colloquial

And a quick question on the side, what's the best way to express the English word "simply, merely, or just" in Japanese? I've seen the word ただ and たった around, but everyone always seems to define them more as just variations of だけ and しか, only with more wide-ranging uses. ???

If you simply want to know if your topic title makes sense, well, that’s grammatically correct. If you are asking if it sounds good, I’d say…not really, because it isn’t self-explanatory. (I mean, it sounds kind of strange as a title in Japanese to me for "tadano" sounds "blunt" here)

コミュニティーカレッジの二年生もです
→ も is wrong here. If you really want to add “too/also”, 二年生でもあります would be fine.

語彙はとても少しです
→ Not wrong. But we usually use 少ない or 乏しい or 貧しい instead. Or, 少ししかない might work as a negative form which can express some humility.

錯誤を訂してください
→ Both the words 錯誤 and 訂する are stiff terms mainly used in law field or such (except for some idiomatic expressions like 時代錯誤). 間違いを直す or 誤りを訂正する would be better.

Anyway, I find your Japanese very good. And the uses of kanji's are appropriate.
Keep going!

Yeah, grammar is my strongest point so far. But, why is it okay to use です In the first case, but である In the second case? Is it because I'm saying I'm two different kinds of student, so I have to use a different state of being expression in each case? Cuz I wasn't totally sure how to express that, cuz I know how も Works, in that it is very specifically tied to the category of thing that you originally stated, like 学生です。 彼も学生です。 Like that???

Last edited by BlueKojiro on Thu 03.29.2012 2:41 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Secondly,
私は男です。
私は学生です。
→ 私は男で、学生です。(One sentence)
It would sound weird if you used the word “too” here in Japanese because you’re talking about two different things, ok? You cannot say 学生もです, because that will have a totally different meaning. 私は男で、学生もです CAN mean “I’m male and THE student is too)

Nevertheless,
There is a way to describe two different things with a nuance of “as additional information”.
→ 私は男で、学生でもあります。
This pattern can convey some feelings like “at the same time” or “furthermore”.
→ 私は男です。学生でもあります。
I'm male. And (at the same time/in addition to that/furthermore) I'm a student.
This pattern sounds a little bit stiff but we frequently use it when we use です／ます form.
e.g) 東京は大きな都市で、日本の首都でもあります。／東京は大きな都市です。日本の首都でもあります。
(Tokyo is a big city + It is the Japanese capital)

Do you know what I mean?

EDIT:
Oops! I’m afraid I didn’t make myself clear in the first place.
You can phrase it like 高校の四年生で、コミュニティーカレッジの二年生です.
(Just dropping も) This is the easiest, of course. The particle で has the nuance of “and” for some reason. In that sense, 東京は大きな都市で、日本の首都です also sounds totally fine, JFYI.

あ、そうか。 どうも。
Yeah, I just realized after looking at my post that I wrote it wrong. The である I knew was a lot more formal and typically only used in writing as well, but I didn't know it could convey the meaning of further information.

As for で In that usage, the way I learned it was that it was the continuative form of だ。 So it follows the pattern of having an -e ending like verbs do in that conjugation. I've also heard that でしょう And だろう Are also conjugations of だ And です。 Not sure about it, though.

Oh, if you could, I have a few more sentences to try out。 The letters stand for "Formal," "Semi," and "Casual." I basically tried to say the same sentence at three different levels of politeness.

I have to eat dinner at around six o'clock tonight。
F. 今晩、私は六時周りに夕ご飯を食べなくてはいけません。
S. 今晩、僕は六時ごろ晩ご飯を食べないといけない。
C. 夜、俺は六時ごろ夕飯食べなきゃ。
I can't go To the party tomorrow until I read that book。
F. 明日のパーティーに行くのは、私はその本を読んでしましたまでに、出来ません。
S. 僕はその本を読んでしまったまで、明日のパーティーに行ってはだめ。
C. 俺は本読んじゃうまで、パーティーに行かなくちゃだめ。
You can't take this class if you're still in high school.
F. まだ高校生ならば、この授業を取ってなりません。
S. まだ高校生だと、この授業を取ってはだめ。
C. 高校生な？授業を取っちゃだめ。
Because I live in America, I'm not allowed to drive until I'm 1７ years old.
F. アメリカに住んでいますから、私は十七歳になりますまで、運転してはなりません。
S. アメリカに住んでいるから、僕は十七歳になるまで、運転してはだめ。
C. アメリカに住んでるから、俺は十七才になるまで運転しちゃだめ。
My mom said I couldn't go to the Movie until I finish writing my essay.
F. お母さんはエッセイを書いてしましたまで映画を見に行ってはいけませんと言います。
S. 母さんはエッセイを書いてしまったまで映画を見に行ってはだめという。
C. 母はエッセイを書いちったまで映画を見に行っちゃだめって。
I need to check my watch.
F. 私は腕時計をする必要があります。
S. 僕は腕時計をする必要がある。
C. 時計をしなくちゃ。

F. 母は、（私が*）エッセイを書いてしまうまで（or 私は here*）映画を見に行ってはいけないと言います。
(Note: This is a cultural thing. When you refer to your family, the formal way is to put them under the listener. So you’re expected NOT to use honorific expression for your family members)
S. 母さんは、エッセイを書いてしまうまで映画を見に行ってはだめだと言う。
C. 母さんは／が、エッセイを書いちゃうまで映画を見に行っちゃだめだって。

Question, what exactly does だって Mean in one of the last sentences? Is it using the declarative だ And adding the quotation って？

And yeah, I meant to say "check" but I guess I mistranslated Rosetta Stone. That's one of the uses of する That I forgot to check, so I thought it meant they were checking the time. How would you say that???